Buried Under Books: Sweet Thing by Renee Carlino Blog Hop, REVIEW and GIVEAWAY!!!!

Title: Sweet Thing

Author: Renee Carlino

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Mia Kelly is a twenty-five-year-old walking Gap ad who thinks she has life figured out when her father’s sudden death uproots her from slow-paced Ann Arbor to New York City’s bustling East Village. There she discovers her father’s spirit for life and the legacy he left behind with the help of an old café, a few eccentric friends, and one charming musician.

Will Ryan is good-looking, poetic, spontaneous, and on the brink of fame when he meets Mia, his new landlord, muse, and personal heartbreaker.

A story of self-discovery and friendship, Sweet Thing shines light on the power of loving and letting go.

Renee’s first friends were the imaginary kind and even though her characters haven’t gone away, thankfully the delusions have. She admits she’s a wildly hopeless romantic and she blames 80’s movies staring Molly Ringwald for that. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, and their sweet dog June. When she’s not at the beach with her boys or working on the next book, she likes to spend her time reading, going to concerts, and eating dark chocolate.

What a really sweet story!!! I am always a sucker for a hero story anyway, but I really liked this one.

This story is about a girl who had everything in life. She had the world. Then her world came crashing down when her father was taken away from her. She then moved to New York where she not only learned how to live but learned how to love.

I really liked Mia's character. Even though there was some indecisiveness on her part throughout the book, I feel like that was almost a given. She just lost her dad. Of course she is going to have an issue making decisions.

And Will is just adorable!! He is so sweet, supportive, and loving all the way through the book. My heart broke for him several times but that is what makes the good hero.

This book centers around a music theme. As a lover of music, I could relate and get this book because of this. The characters connect through music and that makes them more relateable to me. I feel like I knew them in my real life and not just book characters.

I love that this book didn't have any new ideas or a different concept on love. I love that this book followed the normal script as I don't like my hero stories to be too involved. I like that this was a quick read, but oh so sweet. I know that every author wants to have their book be a little different than the last but, so, the difference in this book is that the story was executed beautifully. Very well written and thought out.

The only reason this book doesn't get 5 stars is because I am an AVID dog lover and poor Jackson!! Not that this makes this a bad book by any stretch of the imagination, but I hate when a dog dies. It makes me a huge slobbering, blubbering, mess I want that reaction because of the story and not because of a dead dog. LOL

Otherwise, this book is great. It is getting great reviews and for good reason. Don't waste your time or procrastinate any longer. Get your copy and get to reading. You won't be sorry!

Track Y: A Prayer for Us

Looking around at the remaining guests, the little white lights everywhere and the

glistening pond, I thought Jenny and Tyler’s wedding couldn’t have been any better; it

was complete magic. Playing music with Mia made an already perfect night spectacular. I

wanted to grab a bottle of champagne and stroll around the little pond with Audrey, but I

couldn’t find her anywhere.

I made my way up to the cottage and entered the front door. Right away I could

hear movement. The moment I turned the corner to head down the short hallway, I saw

Mia in sneaky mode, quietly closing one of the bedroom doors. When she turned, she ran

right into my chest.

“Have you seen Audrey?” I said.

She just stared at me, blank-faced.

“What, Mia?” She remained expressionless and then dick-stick Dustin walked out

of the room and stood behind her. “Oh no. Really? Really, Mia? You and him?” Holy

shit, she was fucking him in there. Oh my god, she’s gonna need disinfecting. And then

Audrey walked out and stood next to Dustin. “What?” I started laughing uncontrollably.

Why wasn’t I invited to this party? “The three of you? What the fuck?” I searched Mia’s

face. She looked sad. I couldn’t believe it. I turned and headed down the hallway,

thinking what a travesty this was—my best friend and my girlfriend together with Dustin,

the filthiest, STD-ridden dirtbag in the universe.

I went straight for the bar, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and then headed toward

the pond. I could hear Mia yelling behind me. I kept my head down, got into the little

white boat, and rowed away from the dock. I just kept thinking How could Mia do that,

did she have no dignity? and How could Dustin use her that way when he knows how

precious she is to me? How could he when he knows that I would have given anything to

be with her, to be with Mia.

She yelled at me to come back and talk to her.

“I’m not. Talking. To. You. Ever!” I screamed. I saw Dustin with his arm around

Audrey, standing behind Mia. I stood up in the boat, barely able to keep my balance, and

flipped them off with both hands. “Fuck all of you!” I almost fell over, so I sat down and

rowed farther into the darkness before yelling a final, “Don’t look for me!”

I could still see them under the lights, but I knew they couldn’t see me. When I

got to the other side, I pulled the boat up onto the shore and started on the whiskey. First I

heard her and then I saw her coming toward me from the footpath.

“Will?”

“Don’t fucking come near me, Mia. I swear to God I will row myself into the

middle of that Goddamn pond and stay there till next year.”

She stayed where she was and in the calmest, sweetest voice, said, “I walked into

the room and thought you and Audrey were having sex. I couldn’t see who it was behind

the screen. I tried to sneak back out, and that’s when I ran into you. I was confused.”

I believed her, but I couldn’t face her in that moment. Audrey and Dustin had

humiliated me and I knew Mia felt sorry for me.

“Go away, Mia.”

I spent the next hour in that little boat, thinking about everything, thinking about

my life, thinking about the time Mia had asked me what my hopes and dreams were. I

knew without a doubt they included her, but I also knew I had to be patient with her. The

fact that Audrey and Dustin, that pencil-dick, were probably screwing around right in

front of my face, didn’t even bother me. I just thought about how relieved I was that it

wasn’t Mia.

I headed back to the cottage and found her sleeping, absolutely peaceful and

beautiful. Her long, dark hair was braided and resting over her shoulder. She was on her

side; the quilt was shrugged half down, exposing her almost completely in her T-shirt and

underwear. Honestly, by that point I had gotten over wanting to fuck Mia. When I

thought about being with her, I only thought about making love to her, sweetly. That

night I wanted so badly just to have slow, soft, sleepy sex with her. I lay beside her on top

of the quilt and watched her sleep. I thought back to earlier that day at the wedding when

she came walking down the aisle, how badly I wanted to see her in white, but still how

stunning she looked. I thought about her reaction when she saw Jenny and the way she’d

lovingly but enviously stared at Jenny on her dad’s arm. I knew Mia was thinking about

her own father and that the grief and pain was still weighing heavily on her. I thought

about how she was always alone, even when she dated that dipshit, Bob. Mia just seemed

like this lost little soul and I knew it would be a while before she came around. I passed

out thinking about what it would be like to hold her and praying that she would let me;

praying for us.

A few hours later I woke up to the feel of her gentle hand pulling my belt open. I

noticed she had removed my shoes and tie. I looked down at her through foggy, squinted

eyes. She smiled lovingly at me. There was just a hint of pity in her expression, but her

face was warm and kind.

“I got it,” I said. “Come back to bed.”

She slid back into bed while I stripped down to my boxers. She turned away from

me and onto her side. I curled up behind her and hitched my leg over hers. I reached my

hand up under her shirt to her warm, soft skin. I was holding her; she didn’t stop me. It

felt so good. That moment was tender, raw, and sacred, and I would take a fleeting

moment like that any day over an eternity of mediocrity.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“I am now.” I kissed her hair and inhaled deeply. “It hurt more when I thought it

was you,” I said and then I dozed off again. I woke up practically laying on top of her.

My hands were on her sides and my head rested on her stomach. I think I was crushing

her, but she didn’t seem to mind. She was running her hands through my hair. She

smelled like Mia always smelled, clean and cozy and like home. I stayed there as still as I

could; I wanted it to last forever. And then I thought, “Oh screw it. I’m going for it.”

I anchored my fingers and tried slowly to pull her panties down. She pressed

herself against me like she liked it and then I think she felt me hard beneath her and

jerked away to sit up. I watched her blushing face. She bit down on that pouty bottom lip.

I whispered, “Sorry, baby.”

Her lips curled into a tiny smile, and she leaned over, kissed my shoulder, and

breathed, “Get some sleep,” just barely loud enough for me to hear.

When she left the room, I looked down at myself and laughed. Patience, my

friend, patience.